Ending the suicide silence

Ending the suicide silence

"We will never get to see our sister and daughter and friend again and we have no choice but to live with that. But out of this tragedy and the countless other tragedies, there has to come a positive."

How do you give a voice to something that is deafening in its silence?

How do you talk about, write about, or even try to explain a subject that has for so long been shrouded by stigma?

It has long been a no-go zone for the media. But attitudes are changing and for some time, this newspaper has considered having this discussion with our community.

We believe the time has come.

It’s time to talk about suicide.

From today, The Border Mail launches a week-long campaign, and an ongoing commitment, to help end the silence of suicide.

We will be talking to the brave families who have lost loved ones to suicide and who are speaking up in the hope of preventing further loss of life. We will be talking to friends, to community groups, to doctors, to counsellors, to support groups and to emergency services.

We will be talking to world-leading authorities in the field, including Dr Patrick McGorry, the 2010 Australian of the Year. He writes for us today.

We will explore our mental health system and issues associated with depression.

We will be campaigning for better services, for more support.

At all times, we will treat every story with compassion and respect.

It is our hope, and the hope of the families sharing their stories, that this campaign will encourage you to talk to your family and friends about a subject too often shied away from. We want your involvement and your feedback.

Today, we are sending out an SOS to everyone in the community to end the Shame Of Suicide, the Stigma Of Suicide, the Silence of Suicide.

Because if there is one thing we know, it is that suicide can happen to anybody.